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Constitution of the Republic of Verdeguay
TITLE I Sole Chapter Fundamental Statements Article 1. Verdeguay is irrevocably and forever free and independent from any domination or protection by a foreign power. Constituted as a single and indivisible republic, it adopts representative democracy as its form of government. Article 2. Political power resides in the people, who exercise it through their representatives in the government of the state. No person or assembly of persons has authority to arrogate the title or representation of the people, to usurp its rights, or to make demands in its name. Violation of this article is sedition. Article 3. The government of the republic is exercised by the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. Article 4. The branches of the government shall function harmoniously in accomplishing the aims of the state. In the exercise of their particular functions, they are limited and independent. Article 5. No magistracy, or person, or assembly of persons, not even under the pretext of extraordinary circumstances, is empowered to assume any other authority or rights than those that have been expressly conferred upon them by the laws. Every act in contravention of this article is void. Article 6. The symbols of the nation are: 1) The flag of the republic, consisting of a banner composed of three equal vertical bands: blue, white, and red; bearing, in the center, the national coat of arms, of circular form, which is described as a palm branch intertwined with an olive branch at the vertex and open at the upper part, with a star placed in the center; 2) The national coat of arms, described above; 3) The national anthem, the chorus of which begins with the phrase: "¡Independencia o Muerte!" The law shall regulate the characteristics of the symbols of the nation, and shall determine their use. Article 7. Spanish is the national and official language of the state. Article 8. The Roman Catholic Apostolic religion is the state religion, without prejudice to religious freedom, which is guaranteed in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution. Official relations of the republic with the Holy See shall be governed by concordats or other bilateral agreements. The head of the Verdeguayan Church and the bishops must be native citizens. Article 9. The city of Ciudad Rodríguez López is the capital of the republic and the seat of the branches of the government. Article 10. This Constitution is the supreme law of the nation. The treaties, conventions, and other international agreements ratified and exchanged, and the laws, make up the national positive law, in the order of precedence in which they are listed. Article 11. Verdeguay proscribes all types of political, military, and economic aggression, and intervention in the affairs of other states. It recognizes the right of self-determination of peoples, arbitration as a method of solving international disputes, and the other accepted principles that constitute international law. Article 12. Navigation on the international rivers is free to ships of all flags. It shall also be free on internal rivers, subject to any regulations issued by the competent authority. Article 13. The principles, guarantees, rights, and obligations established in this Constitution may not be altered by the laws that regulate their exercise. Any law, decree, regulation, or other act of authority that is contrary to its provisions is null and void. TITLE II Chapter I Nationality Article 14. Verdeguayans are either native or naturalized. Article 15. Natives are: 1) Those born in the territory of Verdeguay. Children of aliens in the service of their governments are excepted, unless the child is registered in the Civil Registry by the will of the person having patria potestas over the minor while the latter is under age, or by his own will within three years following his eighteenth birthday; 2) Children of a Verdeguayan father or mother, born abroad, when they have Verdeguayan nationality by the law of the place of birth, or, having the right to choose, they elect to be Verdeguayan; or from the time they reside in Verdeguay, provided they have not chosen the other nationality or, if they have, by renouncing it. Such persons are Verdeguayan even for the purposes for which the Constitution or the laws require birth in national territory; 3) Children of Verdeguayans born abroad, provided that, at the time, the father or the mother were in the service of the republic in a foreign country, even for the purposes for which the Constitution or the laws require birth in national territory; 4) Infants of unknown parentage found in Verdeguayan territory; 5) Natives of the other republics of Tarquinia, residing in Verdeguay, who personally declare before a competent authority their desire to be Nicaraguan, provided that reciprocity exists in the country of origin and that it extends to them; and 6) Those born aboard Verdeguayan aircraft or seacraft, outside the jurisdiction of another state, with the exception established in paragraph (1) of this article. Article 16. The following are naturalized Verdeguayans: 1) Aliens who have acquired Verdeguayan nationality; and 2) Alien infants legally adopted by Verdeguayans. Article 17. The following may acquire Verdeguayan nationality through naturalization by declaring their will to that effect and renouncing beforehand their present nationality: 1) Immigrants who are a part of selected groups brought by the government for agricultural or industrial purposes, after one year of residence; 2) Natives of Parthia or countries of Tarquinia having a period of residence in Verdeguay of more than two years. Naturalization requirements for this category may be amended through treaties, on the basis of reciprocity; 3) Other aliens having a period of residence in Verdeguay of more than ten years; and 4) Aliens married to Verdeguayans. Article 18. Neither marriage nor its dissolution shall affect the nationality of the spouses or their children. Article 19. Verdeguayan nationality is lost: 1) By voluntary naturalization in a foreign country outside of Tarquinia. A native Verdeguayan who loses it in this way shall recover his Verdeguayan nationality if at any time he returns to Verdeguay; 2) By cancelation of the certificate of naturalization; 3) By the voluntary absence of a naturalized Verdeguayan from the territory for more than five consecutive years, unless he shows that he has remained bound to the country; 4) When naturalized persons are convicted of treason against the country or they propagate political doctrines or ideologies that tend to destroy the republican or democratic form of government. In such cases, nationality may not be recovered. The law shall regulate all matters pertaining to naturalization. Article 20. No naturalized Verdeguayan may carry out, on behalf of Verdeguay, diplomatic functions in his country of origin. Article 21. Verdeguayans are bound to: 1) Serve and defend the fatherland; 2) Abide by the Constitution and the laws of the republic; 3) Contribute with their work to the overall development of the nation and its spiritual, moral, material, and cultural aggrandizement; and 4) Contribute towards public expenditures in the manner and to the extent prescribed by law. Article 22. Verdeguayans cannot demand indemnity from the state for injuries to their person or property caused by acts that were not performed by legitimate officials in the exercise of their functions. Chapter II Citizenship Article 23. The following are citizens: Verdeguayans over twenty-one years of age; those over eighteen who know how to read and write or are married; and those under eighteen who have completed secondary education. Article 24. The following are rights of the citizen: to hold public office, to meet, associate, and make petitions in the manner prescribed by law. Article 25. The following are obligations of the citizen: 1) To register in the electoral registers when the law so requires; 2) To vote in popular elections; and 3) To hold council offices, unless lawfully excused. These obligations and the penalties for their violation shall be determined by law. Article 26. The rights of citizenship shall be suspended: 1) For mental incapacity; 2) By warrant for arrest or indictment or for a crime subject to corporal rather than correctional punishment; 3) For the imposition of corporal rather than correctional punishment; 4) For being a fraudulent debtor; 5) For habitual vagrancy, drunkenness, or drug addiction; 6) For committing violence, coercion, corruption, or fraud in elections, or for advocating or openly approving abstention from voting; 7) For ingratitude to parents or unjustified abandonment of minor children; 8) For giving aid against Verdeguay to another country or to an alien, in any diplomatic claim or before an international tribunal; and 9) In other cases in which suspension is imposed by law. For suspension based on grounds 1), 4), 5), 6), 7), and 9), a final judicial decision shall be required. Except for those who advocate or openly approve abstention from voting, in all cases of this article the right of a citizen to vote is also suspended. The manner of recovering the exercise of citizenship shall be established by law. Article 27. The popular vote is personal and may not be delegated. It is equal, direct and secret. TITLE III Rights, Guarantees, and Obligations Chapter I Individual Rights Article 28. All Verdeguay are equal before the law. In Verdeguay privilege by reason of birth, social condition or race, or for any reason other than capacity or virtue, is not recognized. In Verdeguay there are no slaves, and he who sets foot upon its territory becomes free. Verdeguayans cannot engage in the slave traffic. A foreigner who does so cannot live in Verdeguay or be naturalized therein. Article 29. All inhabitants of the republic have the right to free development of their personality, with no limitations other than those derived from the rights of others and from considerations of public and social order. Article 30. Private acts that do not offend public order or morals or harm others are exempt from the authority of the magistrates. No inhabitant of the republic may be forced to do anything that the law does not require, or prevented from doing anything not forbidden by law. Article 31. The inhabitants of the republic have the right of protection in the enjoyment of life, honor, liberty, security, labor, and property. No one may be deprived of these rights except in conformity with laws which may be enacted for reasons of general interest. Article 32. The state guarantees individual freedom. It may not be restricted except in conformity with the laws. Article 33. No one may be detained except upon the written order of a competent official. In case of flagrante delicto, the perpetrator may be arrested even by a private individual for delivery to the authority having the power to arrest. Any order of detention that does not emanate from a competent authority or that is issued without the legal formalities is punishable. Article 34. Every detained person shall be set free or delivered to the competent judge within twenty-four hours after his detention, not counting the time needed for travel. Article 35. Any person who is detained or threatened with detention, or any other inhabitant of the republic in his behalf, may petition a competent court, orally or in writing, to issue a writ of habeas corpus. Article 36. Actions or omissions shall be punished only when they are declared punishable by law prior to their commission. Article 37. Trial shall be public. The defendant, either personally or by attorney, shall have the right to intervene beginning in the preliminary inquiry stage. Article 38. Trial by jury is established for criminal cases involving the crimes established by law. Article 39. Any detention for investigation shall be either revoked or converted into imprisonment within ten days after the person detained has been placed at the disposal of the competent judicial authority, not counting the time needed for travel. When minors are involved, they may be sent to special rehabilitation institutions, in accordance with the law. Article 40. No warrant for arrest shall be issued except upon clear proof of the commission of a crime and upon at least a serious presumption of the identity of the perpetrator. Article 41. Any restriction on personal liberty for purely civil obligations is prohibited, except for compulsion provided by law. Article 42. There is no right of a court to hear cases outside of its regular jurisdiction. No one may be removed from his lawful judge, or taken to an exceptional jurisdiction, except as provided by a law in existence prior to the events that led to the trial. Article 43. No one may be deprived of the right of defense. Congress in separate session has the following powers: 1) To enact codes and other laws, amend them, or repeal them, based on this Constitution; 2) To defend the Constitution and the laws; 3) To establish the political division of the territory of the republic and the municipal organizations; 4) To establish or eliminate positions and fix salaries; 5) To adopt any measures needed to maintain the independence and security of the republic; 6) To declare and specify the duration of a state of economic emergency whenever abnormal circumstances of the country so demand. Such a declaration of emergency shall suspend, if so ordered, any or all guarantees set forth in Article 65. The laws enacted by the legislative branch on the basis of this declaration or during its recess by the executive branch may not be in force to the detriment of stated constitutional guarantees longer than the time fixed by the corresponding decree; 7) To take cognizance of the decree-laws issued by the executive branch in the event of emergency or public necessity; 8) To enact rent control laws that alter freedom of contract; 9) To approve or reject the treaties, conventions, concordats, and other international agreements signed on behalf of the republic, and to authorize the executive power to declare war and conclude peace; 10) To enact each year the law on the general budget of the nation; 11) To recognize the national debt and indicate the means for its consolidation and amortization; 12) To enact customs tariffs; 13) To levy taxes; 14) To specify the functions of government employees and indicate the territorial jurisdictions in which they are to be exercised; 15) To fix the content, weight, type and the denomination of the currency, as well as the system of weights and measures; 16) To enact the electoral law; 17) To regulate river and air navigation; 18) To legislate on judicial organization and on actions under administrative law; 19) To establish the legal rules governing the transfer and lease of fiscal and municipal assets; 20) To authorize the departure of troops from Nicaragua and to permit or refuse the transit of foreign troops through territory of the republic. In the event of war or as an international courtesy, when Congress is not in session, the executive branch shall have this authority; 21) To grant or refuse permission to Nicaraguans to accept positions with foreign countries if they are to exercise them in Nicaragua; 22) To approve, modify, or disapprove contracts made by the executive relative to loans, land settlements, navigation, and other works of general utility that involve temporary privileges permitted by the Constitution, or that engage or dispose of property of the nation, or whenever they involve funds not voted in the budget; 23) To legalize the extraordinary or supplementary credits authorized by the president of the republic in council of ministers; 24) To authorize the establishment of banks of issue; 25) To grant amnesties and pardons for political offenses and common offenses related thereto. In no case may pardons include civil liabilities toward private individuals. 26) To commute the death penalty to the immediately lesser punishment. That penalty shall be suspended as soon as the request for commutation is presented by a person of any of the classes mentioned in paragraph 3 of Article 192; 27) To enact internal resolutions and decisions, and to formulate declarations in conformity with its powers; and 28) To exercise any other powers that are within its competence according to this Constitution. At the initiative of the executive branch, Congress in separate session also has the following powers: 1) To authorize awards, indemnities, pensions, prizes, and honors, without prejudice to the authority that the president of the republic holds as chief of the armed forces; 2) To grant awards and extend temporary privileges permitted by the Constitution to authors and inventors of works of general utility and to persons who have introduced new industries or improved existing ones; 3) To authorize, for specific periods of time, concessions for the establishment of new industries or national public services, as well as for the extraction and transformation of raw materials; 4) To issue military ordinances and enact the organic law of the military courts; 5) To grant pardons, reductions, or commutations of penalties for common offenses on the basis of favorable recommendation by the Supreme Court of Justice; 6) To grant permission to the president of the republic to leave the country; 7) To authorize loans; 8) To establish new archbishoprics and bishoprics or to abolish those already existing; 9) To open and close ports and establish maritime and inland customhouses or to enact the rules by which the executive may do so. 10) To decide on the transfer of the capital of the republic to another point in the territory in case of absolute necessity. 1. The executive power shall be exercised by a citizen with the title of President of the Republic, who shall act with his Ministers, separately or in Council, except in those cases in which he may act alone. 2. The President of the Republic shall be elected in direct general elections that shall be held at least six months prior to the expiration of the constitutional period then underway. The candidate who obtains the relative majority of votes shall be proclaimed elected. 3. The President of the Republic shall enjoy, on a permanent basis, the immunities and prerogatives granted by the Constitution to the members of the legislature, insofar as applicable, and shall be responsible for his acts to the National Congress. 4. The qualifications for being elected President of the Republic are the following: to be a Verdeguayan citizen by birth, in the full enjoyment of his rights, and the son of Verdeguayan parents by birth; to have attained forty years of age at the time of the election; to have resided in the country during the entire five years prior to the day of the election; to follow the Roman Catholic Apostolic faith; to possess the moral and intellectual qualities that recommend him to hold the office; and never to have renounced his nationality at any time. 5. The President of the Republic shall hold office for five years and may be reelected. He shall leave office on the day his term expires and no event whatever may extend his mandate. 6. In assuming the office, the President of the Republic shall take the following oath before Congress: "I, (name), swear before God and country that I will faithfully and patriotically discharge the office of president of the Republic of Verdeguay and support and defend the Constitution and the laws. If I do not do this, may God and country hold me to account." If on the date established the Congress not succeed in forming a quorum in order to meet, the ceremony shall be held immediately before the Supreme Court of Justice. 7. The following may not be elected President of the Republic: 1) Relatives of the President of the Republic within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity; 2) A Minister or Vice Minister of State who has been in office at any time during the six months prior to the election; 3) Persons who have held the position of magistrate of the courts and tribunals of justice at any time during the six months prior to the election; 4) Members of the clergy. 8. The official office of the President of the Republic shall be in the Palacio Nacional, and the National Treasury shall defray the expense of a residence for him that is in keeping with the dignity of his office. He shall be entitled to a salary, which may not be changed during his term of office, and during that term he may not engage in any other employment, nor devote himself to his profession, business or industry, nor receive any other emolument from the Republic. 9. The President of the Republic may leave the country while holding office for periods not to exceed three months, and only with the permission of Congress. In such cases, the Minister of Interior shall exercise the administrative function of the President of the Republic. The President may also leave the country for a period not to exceed three months without the permission of Congress, provided that he transfers the exercise of the presidency to the person called upon to replace him; but if his absence lasts more than three months, he shall thereby lose his office. 10. In the event of the temporary or permanent inability of the President of the Republic to serve, or because of his accepted resignation, Verdeguay, Constitution of the Republic of